I hadn't time to watch the whole Southampton game, but was surprised to see them so easily score 3 in the first half.
Like most people, I too thought that they'd be found at the bottom of the table, escaping relegation after a horrible season. And I was sorry for Ronald Koeman, who was such a great player that I wished him to get a splendid career as a coach (he's already got titles in Netherlands, mind).
Terrific recruits, plus Clyne is superb and Schneiderlin's as good as he was 2 years ago.

QPR-Liverpool was astonishing.
Liverpool were leading; 3 minutes before the end, Vargas (why did he join that club?) equalised. Then Liverpool scored. Then Vargas equalised a second time (91 minute). Then Liverpool won it (at the very last second).
Balotelli was... terrible... awful... missing so much...
Two own goals in that game too.
They were not as ugly as the one Vergini scored in the 8-0 drubbing though.

In France, Marseille, a team with cash, but probably not as much cash as Monaco and PSG, top the table with a comfortable lead. 7 points clear after 10 games, 8 victories.
Coach Bielsa's results are talked in awe over here. He rejuvenated striker Gignac (10 goals already).
He'd make the French league an interesting one...

I saw him a couple of weeks ago and he was excellent but those kinds of performances seem increasingly to be the exception rather than the rule.


I really wanna see more Marseille games. I'm fascinated with Bielsa. He's not really known in the UK but seems to be a name dropped regularly in the more hipsterish blogosphere, where he's been adopted as some kind of patron saint.

Balotelli's day against QPR :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c8zL5pFn98
Look at Lallana and guess what his thoughts are...
He wasted another one, outside the box, shooting at a high flying pidgeon that was no longer there

To be honest or kind, both own goals came from passes directed at Balotelli. Had the defenders not touched the ball, Mario would have shot. Scored, that's another story, a keeper is more vigilant when an opponent's in possession. But his position in these occasions helped the team.

Bielsa's arrival was a dream come true in the south.
His first games were not a success and he was quickly criticised by former mogul-minister-liar-inmate-club owner Bernard Tapie "who's that man, what has he won?" (3 titles in Argentina Mr Tapie).
A journalist said that he was not the kind of coach who would join a team that's already on top, because such teams presumably don't give their coaches much leeway. True, untrue?

bielsa is legend in south america. i need to see a marseille game. vs. psg on nov 9?

--

ps - 5 days until the return of suárez! im saying it outloud so as not to forget. i'll probably miss it because it's at like 4am my time though.

Do I score maximum football hipster points by ordering a book on Bielsa ... in Spanish? (I can't read Spanish)

mándame los scans y te lo traduzco

(Thanks google translate). I'll send you the book if you like, once it arrives (in truth I didn't realise it was in Spanish when I ordered it)

use the "university press" and scan the sucker ha ha.

Next you'll spouting about how the Swedish league is vastly underrated and name dropping unknowns like a premier manager knobhead.

ha ha ha-- bielsa is not an unknown.

put this on google translate and check it out http://athletic.elcorreo.com/noticia...-20120317.html

Already ordered my Helsingborgs away kit for Sunday's pre-Gastropub kickabout.

Well he kind of is unless you post a lot in football threads.

no, maybe he's unknown in england but england is not all of football, and he's known widely not just in one remote corner.

e.g., my dad does not post on threads but ask him about bielsa and he'll talk your ear off.

and chile? i understand all of chile plays bielsa's system these days.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/12/...elsa-sampaoli/

now before you say "but who knows chile…", remember how they did in the world cup.

sampaoli of course modeled himself after bielsa

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2014-...arcelo-bielsa/

etc.

Will you people stop saying Bielsa so much.

You missed the joke. The last bit was a reference to wankers who play football manager and through that name drop players from far-away no-one-could-give-two-shits leagues and rolling their eyes if you don't know who they are.

only if you stop bringing up that unknown roy hodgson ha ha ha

We'll miss him when he's gone

to be honest i wasn't trying to put down the guy--- he seems like a true gentleman (good rumpled suits, and he sincerely congratulates his opponents when they beat him). i'm just trying to add a little perspective to these claims that bielsa is an unknown when he's probably contributed more to modern football tactics than england's current manager ever did. and yet h8kurdt calls him an unknown. it's kind of like saying that simón bolivar was an unknown because he didn't liberate ireland.

You must spread some Gummy Venus de Milo around before giving it to h8kurdt again.

oh ha ha ha ha

wow, i just saw that (just now, i swear). hours after my rant above.

i thought you seriously were comparing him to those and i missed your follow-up post due to the timing (and i was busy/rushed).

regardless, i'll go jump of a cliff now. a nice one, with sharp rocks at the bottom.